Victims of Circumstance
"Victims of Circumstance" is the sixteenth episode of Miami Vice's fifth season. The episode premiered on May 5, 1989. Summary A murder spree where the dead were in Nazi prison camps occur at the time a Nazi officer is brought in for a war crimes trial. Plot An old man cowers in fear, holding a knife, as someone pounds on the door of his house. He uses the phone to call someone, asking them where they are. Meanwhile a group of men, among them Angelo Alvarez (John Leguizamo) are at a restaurant talking about someone named Chuey, who left work because he went "fishing", acting as the bait. Alvarez leaves to check his franchises (crack houses) for skimming. Crockett and Tubbs, who have been observing, follow him. A masked man, armed with an assault rifle, bursts into the restaurant and shoots everyone inside, including the two men Alvarez was dining with and Sy, the owner. Crockett & Tubbs hear the shooting and head back, but all they find is the carnage the man left behind. Officer Bailey (Xander Berkeley) looks over the carnage, muttering about how hit jobs have changed. The two men with Alvarez that were killed turn out to be his brothers Ernesto and Enrique. Bailey talks about how Sy took care of people and brought workers in from off the street. He has a number tattooed on his arm, signifying that he was in a Nazi prison camp during World War II. Crockett & Tubbs track down Angelo and ask him about his brothers' murders; he is crushed and insists he had nothing to do with it, vowing revenge. Alvarez asks about the Diablos, a new gang of rip-off artists who are moving in on his turf, and tells the cops the Fuentes gang is getting a new load the next day. Crockett & Tubbs watch the delivery of the drugs (inside tires) and payment, before the Diablos show up for a rip-off; the Fuentes' are killed, and the Diablos drive off...right into the cops, who pump shots into the van until it is stopped. One of the Diablos is killed and the other is arrested. The survivor is taken to OCB for intense questioning; he claims he was at a wedding at the time of the Alvarez hit, and his alibi is backed up by the priest who presided over the wedding. Gina brings a message from Bailey of another hit, while the old man still hears the pounding at his door. The dead are Art & Sylvia Kravitz, an elderly couple, and a kid. Both Kravitz' had Nazi prison camp numbers tattooed on their arms. Unbeknownst to Crockett and Tubbs, someone observes them from a car at the crime scene. Crockett, Tubbs, and Bailey go see Dr. Leo Krebbs (Stefan Gierasch). who says that Sy and the Kravitz' were witnesses against a Nazi officer named Hans Kozak (William Hickey), who is being extradited for war crimes. All three were to testify, and Krebbs has received a death threat from the "Patriot Brigade" -- a neo-Nazi group run by a man named John Baker (Paul Guilfoyle) -- warning him not to make a speech about his time in the concentration camp. While someone in a car watches, Krebbs intends to make his speech and says he has two remaining witnesses, Jacob Hoffman (who is in a nursing home and under guard) and Krebbs himself. Krebbs makes his speech about the Holocaust, then and now (now being in Russia, the Middle East, and in Miami). Suddenly the Brigade come inside chanting white supremacy propoganda, and Baker himself shows up ready to start trouble. Crockett, Tubbs & Switek play up to the Brigade and instigate a brawl, during which Crockett punches Tubbs in defense of Baker. In jail, Crockett (as Burnett) and Switek talk with Baker about the Brigade, and Baker agrees to bail them out along with his men. A reporter named Helen Jackson (Karen Black) wants to talk to Baker, and when he brushes her off she asks Crockett & Switek to arrange an interview. Crockett & Switek shoot up a Jewish delicatessen (a fake set up by the team) and decimate it with pipe bombs, to show Baker and the Brigade their enthusiasm for the cause. Baker discusses the intricacies of his Brigade with Crockett, and their preparations, including a detailed account of all enemies to their cause in a computer. Crockett proposes getting their message out to the public, using Helen Jackson's interview with Baker as a springboard, and gives him her number. Baker & Helen have their interview at her hotel room, which Crockett, Tubbs & Switek record from another floor. Baker spouts off his neo-Nazi beliefs, but before announcing his next target he is called away to a strategy meeting for his Brigade. The Brigade (including Crockett & Switek) go to a rally which includes KKK and other white supremacists. Crockett realizes the whole thing is little more than posturing and speeches, meaning they are onto the wrong people. Meanwhile, someone breaks into the Brigade HQ and uses the computer to track down Jacob Hoffman and Leo Krebbs. The old man continues to hear pounding on the door. Hoffman (the other witness) resists his son's requests to go with him under guard, electing to stay at the nursing home, but when called to therapy the nurse who wheels him away is Helen Jackson. Baker discovers the break-in and the files that are missing; he thinks it's Krebbs' work and suggests he will have Crockett take care of it. Gina tells Crockett that Hoffman was killed at the nursing home, despite all the protection. Helen's father turns out to be the old man pounding at the door, Hans Kozak; Helen is the one behind all the murders, and Kozak wants Krebbs killed to stop the nightmares of the door pounding. The nurse who was supposed to be caring for Hoffman was killed 10 hours before he was. A witness gives a description of the nurse that sounds very much like Helen, and they realize Krebbs is next on the list. Helen walks into a banquet hall, where a humanitarian award will soon be given, and wants to interview the recipient -- Krebbs. She asks him about Kozak, who he wants to bring to justice, and vaguely suggests that he was simply a man doing his job, which Krebbs vehemently disagrees with. Baker storms in and accuses Krebbs of stealing his files; Helen admits to it before shooting Baker and his fellow Brigade member. She reveals her heritage to Krebbs, along with her role in the murders. Krebbs tells her how he watched her father shoot a mother and her two children for his own enjoyment, and that in her quest to end his nightmare she has let herself be corrupted by him. Crockett & Tubbs arrive in time to stop Helen from killing Krebbs. Helen says she did all of this to protect her father; to her, there is no one in the world like him. Alvarez appears and gets his revenge on Helen by shooting her; he attempts to flee before Crockett shoots him. Crockett laments that Helen essentially died when her father became the war criminal Krebbs condemned him as, yet all the hate and predjudice she stood for continues. Cast *Don Johnson as Metro-Dade Detective James "Sonny" Crockett *Philip Michael Thomas as Metro-Dade Detective Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs *Saundra Santiago as Metro-Dade Detective Gina Calabrese *Michael Talbott as Metro-Dade Detective Stan Switek *Olivia Brown as Metro-Dade Detective Trudy Joplin *Edward James Olmos as Metro-Dade Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo Guest Stars *Paul Guilfoyle as John Baker *Stefan Gierasch as Leo Krebbs *Xander Berkeley as Metro-Dade Officer Bailey *William Hickey as Hans Kozak *John Leguizamo as Angelo Alvarez *Karen Black as Helen Jackson Co-Starring *Dave Corey as Priest *Cindy Gold as Medical Examiner *Herb Goldstein as Sy Rosenthal *Jerry Hotchkiss as Jacob Hoffman *Janet Johnson as Society Lady *Troy Mays as Duey *Lou Morhaim as Murray *Stephen Neal as Metro Policeman *Tom Nowicki as Dwayne *Allen Poe as Diablo *Larry Silverberg as Elliott *Denise Wynn as Baker's Wife *Del Zamora as Ernesto Alvarez Notes *During the scene where Crockett and Tubbs investigate the Kravitz killings, the shot from a car is clearly just a (rather crudely) cut-out photo of a car interior matted over the scene. *This is the final new episode broadcast on Friday nights. "Freefall" would be shown on a Sunday night and the "lost" episodes on Wednesday nights. *The episode features many long, mobile, handheld camera shots, a technique rarely if ever seen elsewhere on the show. *John Leguizamo portrayed Tubbs nemesis Orlando Calderone in Season 2's finale "Sons and Lovers" and Season 3's "The Afternoon Plane". *The Royal Palm hotel (shown in the scene where Jacob Hoffman's body is found) was another of the South Beach Art Deco hotels that was renovated after Vice went off the air and is now a luxury hotel. Production Notes *Working Title: "Innocent Bystander" *Filmed: February 28, 1989 - March 8, 1989 *Production Code: 63915 *Production Order: 105 Filming Locations *1608 Alton Road, Miami Beach (Café where Alvarez brothers are shot) *Royal Palm Hotel, 1545 Collins Ave, Miami Beach (Jacob Hoffman's body found) Music *"Severance" by Dead Can Dance (Opening when Kozak hears voices) *"Miami Beach Rhumba" by Klezmer Conservatory Band (In restaurant with Alvarez brothers) *"Misguided Angel" by Cowboy Junkies (Ending when Crockett and Tubbs walk away after Helen Jackson's death) Tim Truman Music *"Dope In The Bag" (Diabolos attacking smugglers) *"Innocent Bystander" (Crockett/Tubbs questioning Angelo Alvarez Quotes *"No professional pride, just aim, and splatter!" -- Crockett about the hit job *"She's been dead a long time, since her father executed all those people in the death camps, unfortunately what she stood for didn't die with her!" -- Crockett about Helen Jackson Category:Miami Vice Season 5 Episodes